Dakota Johnson to Release Powerful New Podcast of Abuse Survivors' Stories

Kristen Lopez

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We have a new celebrity podcast to follow — and this one takes a different course than most. On Saturday, actress Dakota Johnson launched The Left Ear podcast, aimed at sharing stories from survivors of abuse, assault and other traumas. But this isn’t the start of her advocacy work. At last year’s Global Citizen Festival, Johnson shared with attendees a phone number that she later posted to her Instagram.

Johnson encouraged women “in every corner of the world” who face “extreme violence and sexual harassment on a daily basis” to call the number and share their stories on her private voicemail. “I don’t want to speak for you. I want to listen to you,” she said. She’s taking that listening to The Left Ear, named for the idea that the left ear is the closest to our hearts. It is a podcast touting itself as an “introduction into non-judgmental listening, and a space of refuge and healing for the survivors who called in droves in order to finally share their stories.”

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In a later social media post promoting the show, Johnson reiterated that these voicemails are her attempt to listen and let survivors speak for themselves. “These are real stories from real people around the world,” she said. All contributors to The Left Ear are unedited and uncensored, though their names are not revealed and their voices are altered to protect their identities.

View this post on Instagram

One year ago I asked women and girls around the world to call me and leave a voicemail telling their stories of sexual violence, harassment, and gender based inequalities. I didn’t want to speak on their behalf, I wanted to listen to them. This is The Left Ear. A podcast where you will find the voicemails I listened to. To protect anonymity the voices have been slightly pitched, and any identifiers have been removed. Other than that, they have not been edited. These are real stories from real people around the world. Listening to these stories can feel very intense. So please take care of yourself if choose to listen. And I hope you do choose to listen, because listening is the most important thing you can do for someone. In this podcast, I want to create a space where the listener is listening just as honestly and bravely as the speakers who had the courage to call. Your left ear is the ear closest to your heart. And by listening with your heart, you can save someone even just a little bit. The first episode is available now, and more to follow every Monday starting October 7th. For more information and resources visit the link above. All my love, D

A post shared by Dakota Johnson (@dakotajohnson) on Sep 29, 2019 at 9:22pm PDT

Johnson said listening is the most powerful thing a person can do: “By listening with your heart, you can save someone even just a little bit.” The first episode clocks in at just twelve minutes and the website accompanying it include links to crisis response hotlines and mental health professionals that help minorities. New episodes will be released every Monday.

What Johnson is doing is powerful, especially considering that a woman is assaulted every 73 seconds in the United States, and one out of every six women in America has been the victim of an attempted or completed assault, as per the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Trauma like this is hard enough to discuss, so it’s a testament to the strength of these women that they agreed to share their stories.

If you or someone you know needs confidential help, there are many resources out there. Two of these include RAINN at 800-656-HOPE or Women in Distress at 954-761-1133.

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